Beginning of 2010 Season

[Fairway_CY]

So... I enjoy reading the blog postings here, so I figured I'll start one myself... if for nothing else, to look back on in the future and laugh at myself. My family just returned from a 9 night visit to Disney World in Orlando and... the warmer weather there REALLY got me in the mood for golf (not that it hasn't been on my mind since the beginning of January, but still). When we returned to Jersey... there was quite a bit of snow on the ground as we left the day before the big blizzard that dumped 2-1/2 feet of snow on the area. The weather was warming up quite nicely though, and as of today... there is barely any snow in my driveway and the only area on my grass that still has snow is where it was all piled up from shoveling.

The combination of the weather and the constant looking up and seeing the Golf Channel on my TV has forced me outside to the range twice this week. The first time was Tuesday afternoon where I spent about 2 hours at the range working on several things... but mostly tempo. About midway through my bucket of balls... I decided to simulate a round using the course scorecard from the first tournament I will be playing in shortly. Keeping things like doglegs, hazards, etc. in mind... I determined a shot shape that I needed to perform and then attempted to execute that shot. I gave myself two putts for each hole (my average from last season) once I 'reached the green'. Using this method, it worked out to a 91 which would result in a net 65 for me. There weren't too many poor shots... but the ones that WERE poor... were REALLY poor. The next visit to the range was yesterday (Thursday). I did the same thing... but even though it seemed like I hit more poor shots... the score worked out to a 92 - net 66.

What has really seemed to change with me is my ability to drive the ball. For the last 5 years or so, I've played with a Taylor Made R540 driver. While I never really was consistent with it (26.53% in 2004 - 41.35% in 2005 - Didn't play in 2006 - 33.85% in 2007 - 39.68% in 2008 - 27.97% in 2009) I DID feel that I was getting better at keeping it in play, even if I was still missing fairways. At the end of 2009, I purchased a Cleveland HiBORE XLS driver and hit 40.74% of my fairways in the 3+ rounds I played with it and felt an INSTANT distance increase. At the range so far this season (maybe 6-8 visits total) I've never had a day where striking the ball with the driver felt off by much. Some days have been better than others, but overall... I'd say I'm very comfortable with the driver in my hand.

On the OTHER side of that coin... my 3 wood seems to be suffering. It was my 'go to' club on tighter holes (47.83% in 2009) and I felt like I was able to control it MUCH better than the driver, even on poor shots. Right now, however, I feel like any time I take out the 3 wood on the range... it's going to end up landing in the netting to the right side of the range. So... with maybe 3 or 4 range sessions remaining before the first tournament of the season... my goal is to focus on regaining the confidence I had with my 3 wood and continuing to build the new found confidence I've got with my driver.

We'll see how that works out in the next two weeks... but until then... I'm just happy the weather is warming up enough that I can visit the range in short sleeved shirts rather than a ski parka.

'Til next time...

CY

[RIduffer]

I think that's great to play 'simulated rounds' at the range. More practical than hitting 40 drives in a row.

Also, 3-wood is just a tough club to hit IMO. I have trouble hitting my 3-wood well unless my swing is feeling really good.